Aryeh Levin
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Rabbi Aryeh Levin, (March 22, 1885 - March 28, 1969), affectionally known as Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox rabbi who was known as "The Tzadik ("saint") of Jerusalem" for his kindness and attention to the poor, sick and downtrodden elements of society, and as "The Father of Prisoners" for his work with members of the Jewish Underground movements who were imprisoned by the British in the central prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate period and with convicted criminals. Notwithstanding his activism, he behaved with extreme modesty and humility, exuding a quiet, personal warmth that touched many Jews, both religious and secular. One of his daughters married Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, who is the long-time leader of Lithuanian Haredi Jewry in Israel.
Rabbi Levin was the subject of the book A Tzaddik in Our Time: The life of Rabbi Aryeh Levin by Simcha Raz.
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[edit] Early life
Reb Aryeh was born in the village of Urla, near Bialystock, northern Lithuania, to his parents, Binyamin Beinish and Ethel Levin. He had two older sisters, Miriam and Faige. At the time of his birth, his father was already quite old, and was not able to continue his work as a forester for many years after Reb Aryeh's birth. As a result, the boy grew up in a home poor in materialism but rich in hospitality and kindness to others.
From his father, Reb Aryeh acquired a love of Torah learning and a desire for saintliness. Throughout his life he adopted his father's habit of reciting Mishnayos by heart wherever he found himself.
Until the age of 12, his Torah education was conducted by various melamdim who taught in and around his village. At age 12, Reb Aryeh decided to leave home to acquire Torah wisdom from the leading scholar-rabbis of the yeshiva world. Like other itinerant students, he slept either on the benches of the local synagogue or in the hekdesh (public lodginghouse for beggars and vagrants), and received a daily meal either from local families or from relatives whom he sought out on his journeys. In this way, Reb Aryeh studied at the great yeshivas of Slonim, Slutsk, Volozhin, and Brisk during his teens.
When the Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904, leading to the conscription of thousands of young Jewish men, Reb Aryeh, then 19, decided to escape the draft by emigrating to Israel. Not having any money with which to travel, he appealed to the head of the Volozhin yeshiva for a letter of recommendation to the yeshiva trustees in Minsk. When he arrived at the home of one of the trustees with this letter, the man gave him three rubles for his journey. Reb Aryeh burst into tears. After the Shabbat which Reb Aryeh spent with his host, the man's family decided to raise the gift to 40 rubles, enough to get him to the port of Odessa, acquire a passport, and pay for half his passage to Israel.
Returning to his parents' home to make preparations, Reb Aryeh found his father seriously ill and the poverty in the house dire. The night before his arrival, the only milk cow his parents owned became sick and died. Reb Aryeh spent many months caring for his father and managing the house. He finally embarked on the voyage to Israel nearly a year later, arriving in the port of Jaffa on February 6, 1905.
His parents were subsequently fined 300 rubles for his desertion from the army, which Reb Aryeh paid from his new home in Jerusalem.
[edit] Marriage and family
A month after his arrival in Israel, Reb Aryeh was engaged to the sister-in-law of Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, a leading sage of Jerusalem. The two were married on Friday, July 14, 1905. Their first daughter, Rasha, was born on April 22, 1906, and another daughter, Shifra, was born on November 2, 1907. Though Reb Aryeh received a small stipend from the yeshiva in which he learned, it was not enough to support his growing family. In December 1908, he left his wife and daughters for a voyage to Marseilles, where he hoped his fortunes might change.
He received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Shmuel Salant, Rabbi Chaim Berlin, and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook in 1909.
From 1917 until the end of his life, he served as the Mashgiach ruchani and supervisor in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva.
[edit] Father of the Prisoners
In 1931, at the request of the British Mandate, Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook appointed Reb Aryeh Levin the official Jewish Prison Chaplain, a position he informally had filled since 1927. He accepted the position on the condition that he receive no pay.
Each Shabbat he would walk from his home in Nachlaot to the Jewish prisoners held in the Russian Compound. Those held there were political prisoners, guilty of crimes like weapons possession or smuggling. Most belonged to one of the underground groups: Palmach, Haganah and later, Irgun and Lehi.[1]
He spent time with the prisoners, praying with them, passing messages back and forth for their families.
The "Synagogue room" in the Museum of the Underground Prisoners in the former central prison in Jerusalem is connected to the activities of the Rabbi Aryeh Levin, as it was used as a synagogue for the prisoners on Shabbat and holidays.
AS EARLY as 1927, Rav Aryeh Levin began visiting Jewish prisoners who had been found guilty of political crimes like possessing a weapon or smuggling contraband into the country. The British overseers of Palestine stiffened their grip on the necks of the Jews in direct proportion to the Arabs’ penchant for stirring up violent riots. In response, the Jewish underground, comprising groups like the Haganah, the Palmach, and the Irgun increased their activities, which led to many of their members being jailed. In 1931 the British authorities requested that the Chief Rabbi appoint a prison chaplain who would visit the captives on Shabbos. Rav Kook turned to Rav Aryeh Levin, who worked as the supervisor in the Etz Chaim Talmud Torah, and asked him to take the position. Rav Aryeh accepted, on the condition that he would not receive any compensation for his time. Every Shabbos morning Rav Aryeh walked from his house in Mishkenos to the Russian Compound, where the main Jerusalem prison was located. He prayed together with the prisoners, sat and talked with each one, acted as an emissary between them and their families, and generally filled the vacuum in their lives. He never tried to force his religious values on them; at most he gave them a Book of Psalms to read. The inmates were captivated by his genuine warmth and sincerity, and the honor and respect with which he treated them. At one point, the Arab inmates even became jealous of their Jewish cell mates, for their Mufti’s visits were guarded and aloof, cold and distant. Rav Aryeh would take each inmate’s hand and cup it inside his own. Slowly he would rub and squeeze the prisoner’s hand as he sat and talked with him. His eyes radiated love and comradeship, and he spoke soft and soothing words of encouragement. Even the most stubborn prisoners succumbed to his simple, untainted love for his fellow Jew. The most heartbreaking situation he encountered was the predicament of the prisoners that were condemned to death. Rav Aryeh made every effort to appeal the sentences and reduce the punishment. Once he even threw himself in front of the High Commissioner’s moving limousine in order to present his petition to him. Concerning those he could not save, like Dov Groner, Moshe Barzani, and Meir Feinstein, Rav Aryeh said: “None of us has any idea how high is the spiritual rank of these martyrs.”
Aryeh Levin at the Kotel The prisoners themselves spoke of his influence on them. Following are some of the comments they made about him: “We counted our days in prison according to Rav Aryeh’s visits.” “I still thank the God of Israel that as the door of Cell 48 opened to lead me into an unknown future into life behind bars, He sent me this good angel of His.” “If you never saw a camp of prisoners receive Rav Aryeh and give him welcome, you cannot know the power of love and faith.” “About this Jew there was always a wondrous aura.” “Whoever didn’t experience his unique handshake cannot understand its essence. One hand shook yours in greeting; and the other patted it in affection, as he spoke with you in his calm and reassuring manner.” “His eyes illuminated the darkness of our cells... For us he was a bridge to the past generations, a link of prayer with the Almighty.” Mattityahu Shmuelevitz, whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, wrote in a letter to a friend: “Yet there is one person in particular to whom I remain grateful first and foremost; a dear, precious Jew about whom you told me nothing; but it was he who stormed heaven and earth for me; and more important — it was he who brought me closer to my Maker in those fateful days... He left and we remained in the prison. He couldn’t take us with him out into the free world, but he always brought the outside world in to us.” In 1965 (5725), Rav Levin was honored at a ceremony assembled by the veteran underground resistance fighters from the Mandate period. Timed to take place on his eightieth birthday, it was held in the courtyard of the old central prison in the Russian Compound. Rav Aryeh stood up to speak. “The importance of this assembly is that it has brought friends together. Moreover, this good meeting is taking place on the other side of the prison bars...It particularly makes my heart glad to see the families of the prisoners, especially the little children, since I have always loved small children.” Then he added, “I do not know if I shall be privileged to be with you again like this. All I ask of you is this: Tell your children: There was an old Jew in Jerusalem who loved us so very much!” With that he burst into tears, and among the thousands of people there, not a dry eye was to be found. Paralysis and the Pledge Shabbos in Jerusalem’s central prison was as one would have expected. There was happy anticipation in the air as the prisoners waited for the arrival of Rav Aryeh Levin, who would bring some light and hope into their otherwise drab existence. Rav Levin arrived on time for his regular weekly visit. As usual, he had the prisoners join in the morning prayer service; and as usual, when the time came, he began reading the weekly portion from the Torah scroll.
Prison where the Jewish Prisoners were Kept As he was in the middle of the Torah reading, one of the Arab guards approached and asked him to come outside, as there were people waiting for him. Rav Aryeh, however, had no wish to interrupt the reading and motioned to the guard to be so kind as to wait until he was finished. A few minutes passed by and once again the guard appeared with the same request. Once more, though, the rabbi motioned to him to wait until he finished reading from the sefer Torah. Soon, however, the captain of the guard himself came, and asked Rav Levin to accompany him. There could be no further doubt: something quite serious must be afoot. Rav Aryeh asked one of the inmates to continue the reading, and he left the cell with the captain of the guard. Once outside, he saw his son-in-law waiting for him at the prison entrance. In his heart he knew at once that some accident had occurred. However, he did not utter a word, and with the wisdom of silence between them they set off by foot to the Shaarei Chesed neighborhood, where his married daughter lived. As they reached his daughter’s home, Rav Aryeh saw members of the family and medical doctors gathered there. It was then that he learned the news: his daughter had been stricken by paralysis. The only comfort the doctors could give him was that in their opinion, her total incapacitation would likely give way to partial paralysis over the course of time, and perhaps in a number of years she would recover completely. After an emotional meeting with his daughter, he reminded members of the family that “the rescuing help of the Lord can come in the twinkling of an eye.” That night, when Shabbos was over, the Arab guard from the prison knocked at his door. Burning with curiosity, the inmates at the jail had bribed him to go to Rav Levin’s home and find out the reason for his sudden departure. Rav Aryeh explained what had happened and told them not to worry. The next Shabbos the prisoners flocked around him and asked how his daughter was. “As well as can be expected,” he said emotionally. During the Torah reading, an unusual thing occurred during the mi-sheberach prayer recited after each of the seven aliyos, in which one asks the Lord to bless and protect the man just called to the Torah. It is customary that the man called to the Torah pledges a sum to charity. As Rav Aryeh duly recited the mi-sheberach for the first prisoner called to the Torah, he was taken by surprise to hear the man announce that he was pledging a day of his life for the recovery of the good rabbi’s daughter. When the time came for the mi-sheberach of the second called, he announced that he forfeited a week of his life for the sake of the sick woman. The third man called pledged a month of his lifespan; and so it went. At last it was the turn of the seventh man, Dov Tamari, who later became a professor at the Technion in Haifa. “What is our life in prison worth,” he cried, “compared to our rabbi’s anguish? I pledge all the remaining days of my life to the complete recovery of our rabbi’s daughter!” Rav Aryeh looked at the young man and burst into tears. He was moved beyond words to see how devoted these men were to him and how much affection they bore him. Unable to continue with the prayer service, he shook hands warmly with every single one of the inmates and went straight home. That evening, after Shabbos, members of his family came to tell him that his daughter was beginning to show signs of recovery: she had started to move some limbs. A few days went by, and her health returned completely, in utter contradiction to the medical prognosis, which predicted a long period of illness and convalescence.
[edit] Attendance to the sick
Reb Aryeh was also known for his habit to visit sick people in various hospitals. He was very concerned that there were sick people who had no visitations because they had no family to do so. He would sit for hours near the beds of the sick. Most known for his visits in the Bikur Holim hospital in Jerusalem and in hospitals for lepers. Interestingly, despite the risk for infecting himself, he would visit lepers and even the lepers hospital in Bethlehem which was almost entirely for Arabs.
[edit] Convoy of 35 bodies
After the Israeli War of Independence, when the bodies of the Convoy of 35 were returned to Israel, the IDF Chief Rabbinate couldn't verify the identity of 12 bodies. The problem of the identification was due to the heinous mutilation of the bodies. To solve the problem, Reb Aryeh was handled the task to perform the 'goral hagra' (hagra = Vilna Gaon), a process in which the reader of the Torah is led to certain verses which give hints of the subjects in question. This ceremony is unique and rarely performed. This is among the best known modern examples of its use.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Rosoff, Dovid (2004). Where Heaven Touches Earth. ISBN 0-87306-879-3.
- Raz, Simcha (1976). A Tzaddik in Our Time: The life of Rabbi Aryeh Levin. Spring Valley, N.Y.:Philipp Feldheim Inc. ISBN 0-87306-986-2
